Trekking through life: Faith, family, friends and a whole lot of coffee!

Learning to let go of perfect… November 20, 2011

Edwin Bliss has said, “The pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy. The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a terrible waste of time.”

This past few days I’ve been thinking a lot about this quote. In a busy world, with four active children, a husband and full-time jobs for both of us, we are blessed. Like many of our friends, neighbors and acquaintances in this wildly busy life, we cram as much as we can pack down, shake a bit and pack some more into most days/weeks/months. Unfortunately, we (hubby and I) both err a little on the “perfectionist” side of things…one of us <ahem> more than the other, but we both want things done and we want them done well. The danger in that is, that we (me) often lose sight of what is important. I become more focused on doing it ALL and doing it ALL (seemingly) effortless and perfectly. It’s exhausting. (the kicker is, the end result is RARELY perfect) And now I know why….I’ve lost focus on what in the heck I am doing. I am more interested in executing perfection than finding gratification and excellence. It IS frustrating and leads me to completing tasks “perfectly” and seldom gratified and often grumpy.

To change focus. It’s going to take some practice to let go of “perfect” and settle for gratification. I’m not sure if I can do that, but it’s got to be worth the effort. Right?